Activists say car bomb kills at least 43 in Syria

Associated Press

Published 6:04 pm, Thursday, May 15, 2014

Beirut --

A massive car bomb ripped through a crowded garage Thursday near a rebel-held border crossing between Syria and Turkey, killing at least 43 people in an area that has seen fierce fighting between rival rebel groups, an antigovernment activist group said.

The attack came as President Bashar Assad's forces have seized the momentum of the country's 3-year-old civil war ahead of presidential elections scheduled for June 3.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said the blast killed 43 people and wounded more than 80. Injured Syrians who were taken to hospitals in Turkey and later died are among the 43 killed, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Observatory. The group relies on a network of activists on the ground.

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Car bombings have become common in Syria as the influence of Islamic extremist groups has risen, dampening the support of the U.S. and its European allies for the opposition seeking to oust Assad. Opposition activists have blamed al Qaeda-linked fighters, who are engaged in deadly fighting between rival rebel factions in Syria, although no group claimed responsibility for Thursday's blast.

An amateur video posted online showed women, men and children at the scene of the blast near the Bab al-Salameh border crossing in the northern province of Aleppo. In another video posted online by activists, burned out cars are seen in the area near the crossing and the site of the attack, as people walk pass pools of blood with clothes and other personal belongings scattered all around.

In Turkey, a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information said 94 wounded Syrians were brought across the border for treatment and that 14 of them had died.

Rebels fighting Assad captured the border crossing on the Syrian side in July 2012, opening a key transit point for people and supplies. But the area has seen an uptick in clashes and attacks between rebel groups fighting for control of the crossing in recent months.

Meanwhile, government forces pressed on with their campaign to push rebels from the areas that could threaten Damascus, the seat of Assad's government, dropping bombs from a helicopter Thursday on the village of Tal Shihab, killing nine people, the Observatory said.

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